I honestly really love the bucks are building post Giannis trade.

Ryan Rollins broke out in 25-26, averaging 17 points per game, showing he’s one of the best shooters in the league, shooting 40.6%. Though he has shown potential to be a playmaker, averaging almost 6 assists per game last season, I would like to see him play a lot more off the ball due to his extreme shooting prowess and how I think Jaime Jaquez can take playmaking duties (more on this later). He has only just turned 24 this off season.

Tyler Herro is the main ball handler of this team, and he’s showed he can be that on a team before over the past two years on the Miami Heat, averaging an efficient 20.8 ppg in 25-26, and even having an all star season in 24-25 averaging almost 24 ppg on 47, 37 splits, Tyler herro consistently has improved and is still only 26 years old, plenty of time left to turn into a true consistent all star level player.

A lot of people don’t realize how great of a season Jaime Jaquez Jr. had in 25-26, bouncing back from his down year in 24-25 and averaging 15.4 ppg off the bench for the Miami heat, and in my opinion, deserved Sixth Man of the Year. He is also a very underrated playmaker averaging around 5 assists per game. He also averaged 5 rebounds per game. His main weaknesses are three point shooting, only shooting around 32%, decently below average, and in my opinion his biggest weakness is his defense, he has shown some flashes of guarding bigger players down low, but it is a very small sample size and gets burned way too often to be relied on to guard anyone who can create for themselves on the perimeter. I think Jaime Jaquez is a very big breakout candidate for 26-27, and he could play a Deni Avdija type role for this bucks team and average about 18 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, becoming the bucks main playmaker.

Kel’el Ware is a player I believe has major upside, averaging 11 points and 9 rebounds in just 22 minutes per game, on 53% and a suprising near 40% from 3 (39.5). He really shown ability to be a great rim protector in this league, holding down the heat defense in the non bam adebayo minutes, averaging just over 1 block per game. He is a great roamer and post defender. He is also an elite level rebounder, both offensively and defensively, which will really help with such a young team, making sure that when they can get a stop, they don’t have to worry about giving second chance points, and even could bail them out if they a miss a shot in the half court offense. Offensively, he has also shown true ability in the pick and pop and as a spot up shooter, shooting 39.5% on real attempts, 3 per game, and I expect him to get many more this season as the bucks try finding their identity post Giannis, maybe around 37% on around 4.5 attempts per game, cementing himself as a real shooter. He also has an amazing post game, a weapon the bucks could fall back on if the offense falls flat, he also spent time alongside Victor Wembanyama at Hakeem Olajuwon’s post skills camp this offseason, so who knows, kel’el ware post ups may be a major part of the bucks offense. I think he could average about 14 points 12 rebounds and 2 assists per game.

The bucks also have amazing pieces off the bench that I haven’t even gotten to mention, like Kasparas Jakucionis who was amazing at Illinois in 2025 and I thought could’ve went top 10 in the draft, and had an underrated season last year averaging 3 assists and shooting 42.6% from 3 on three attempts per game, Brayden Burries was great at Arizona last year, showing real potential as an amazing two way player with real ball handling upside, reminding me a lot of Derrick White, someone who has real scoring potential, the ability to a be 20 ppg scorer, while being an elite defender. Nate Ament is a great upside player out of Tennessee, great size, amazing defender and has shown flashes of skill as a ball handler, and playmaker. His main weaknesses are consistency offensively and shooting, he shot 40% from the field, which is extremely low considering he’s 6’10 and 33% from 3, there is a real chance he could be a bust but he also has massive upside, a great pick for a team going into their first year of a rebuild.

Peyton Watson would answer the main question I have for this team next season of: “Who the hell is guarding the opposing teams best player on the perimeter?” This teams entire consists of a bunch of players who are unproven as perimeter defenders. As currently constructed, Jaime Jaquez would likely be their point of attack defender, and he is very unproven on that side of the ball, especially on the perimeter and will get burned very often by the best scorers in the league like SGA, Tatum, whatever one of the 76ers guys, KD, etc. Peyton Watson would provide this team with a real proven perimeter defender, being the second best defender on a real contender, the Denver nuggets, only behind Aaron Gordon, one of the best role players in the nba.